Cableway.



E. PULSFORD.

CABLEWAY. APPLICATION FILED AUG- 12, 19M.

1,178,943. Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

wve Mow E. PULSFORD.

CABLEWAY.

APPLICATION HLED Aus.12, m4.

1,178,943. Patented Apr. 11,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

v I v saw/a2 WM W THE cqLUMpIA PLANOGRAPH 110.. WASHINGTON, D. c.

To all whom it may concern.

mnrnn srarns PATENT orrron.

ERNEST r Lsronn, or NUTLEY, NEW JERSEY.

CABLEWAY.

Be it known that I, ERNEST PULsroRD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Nutley, in the county of Essex and. State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cableways, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates broadly and generally to new and useful improvements in cableways of that Character or type employed for hoisting and transportingloads and employing a carrier or carriers for supporting the operating line or lines for hoisting or transporting the load. a

In cableways of moderate length .of span where a carrier is required between the carriage and tower to support the hoisting or fallr0pe, it has been customary to employ carriers of the differential type, as exemplified in the patents of Charles M. North No. 480,029, August 2, 1892,and Spencer Miller No. 901,021, October 13, 1908,, Reissue No.

12,962, June 8, 1.909. These diffrentialcanriers are propelled by the frictional engagement of the conveying rope with a sheave of thecarrier causing same to roll upon the main cable and move the carrier at .one half the speed of the carriage, thus dividing the space between the carriage and tower into two equal spaces. The difficulty with these carriers is that unless the conveying rope is caused to bear with considerable pressure on the sheave the carriers slip and fail to register properly. And if the pressure is suflicient the carriers are very destructive to the rope. To obviate these difficulties 1 have invented a carrier which is positively propelled at a definite speed relative to the speed of the carriage, for example at one half the speed ofthe carriage. In one em-- bodiment of my invention, hereinafter described, I accomplish this by attaching a conveying rope to the carrier and propel carrier and the carriage.

The invention consists in the improvements to be more fully described hereinafter and the novelty of which will be particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed.

I have fully and clearly illustrated my Specification of Letters Patent.

well known in the art.

invention in theaccompanying drawings to be taken as a part of this specification and wherein:

Figure 1 is adiagrammatic viewin per-- spect'ive showing a preferred form of cableway constituting one embodiment of my invention. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the head of a tower" for supporting the cableway and showing the relative positions of a load carriage and a fall-rope carrier in a cablewayconstructed and operated accordmg to my invention. Fig. 3 is a view in elevation ofa rope carrier constructed in ac-, cordance with invention. Fig. 4 is a viewin elevation of a load carriage.

Patented Apr. 11,1916. Application filed August 12, 1914. Serial No. 856,386.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference: 1 designates a main cable'the fore, do not deem it necessary to enter into any detailed descriptionthereof. It will be ported from these towers in any of the ways 7 Adapted to travel upon thismain or supporting cableis a load carriage 4 consisting preferably of vertical parallel side platesf), 6, carrying, attheir upper ends, bearing pins 7 upon which revolve grooved running wheels 8 adaptedto travel upon the main cable 1, the latter, during-the operation ofthe carriage, being located in the space between side plates 5, 6.

Attheir lower portions the said plates 5, 6, are connected bybearing pins 9, upon which are mounted grooved pulleys or sheaves 1O overwhich passes a hoisting or fall-rope ll havingone end connected to the tailtower,

as at 12,,and the other end'passing over a sheave ,orpulley. 13 mounted on the head tower, whence said rope passes down to the I drum 1 1 of any suitable type of winding engine which is adapted ,to take up and pay The hoisting or fallout said fall-rope. rope 11- is provided with a loop or bight 15 which depends from the load carriage be v tween the said pulleys 10, said bight' supporting the pulley 16 of a block from which the load, for instanceabucket 17, is'adapted;

'75 understood that the main cable maybe supx to be suspended. The arrangement of the fallrope is such that the drum 14 may be operated to take up or pay out the fall-rope, thereby raising or lowering the load, and the carriage may then be traversed lengtlr wise of the main cable by means to-be hereinafter described. The carriage is provided on opposite sides thereof with plates 19, 20, spaced, respectively, from the plates 5, 6, heretofore described, and between each of said plates 19, 20, and the adjacent plates 5, 6, are journaled upper and lower grooved guide-rollers 21, 22, for a purpose to be hereinafter set forth.

V I will now proceed to describe the fallrope carrier construction and arrangement for supporting the hoisting or fall-rope 11 between the carriage and the supporting towers, and for causing the carriers to take a' definite position relative to the carriage.

In the embodiment shown and hereinafter to be described, I employ two carriers located, respectively, on opposite sides of the carriage between the latter and the supporting towers, and provide meanswhereby the carriage and the carriers travel at definite speeds relative to each other so that the carriers are always located substantially midway between the carriage and the support for all positions of the carriage. These carriers consist preferably of. frames comprising vertical spaced parallel plates 23, 24, connected at their upper ends by a pin 25, upon which is journaled a grooved roller 26 located in the space between said plates 23, 24, and adapted to travel upon the main cable, the latter passing in the space be tween said plates 23, 24.

Mounted on one side of the carrier frame is a vertically .disposed plate 27 spaced from the plate 24 and having its upper end mounted on the pin 25 and its lower end connected to the lower portion of the plate 24 in any suitable manner, as, for instance, by a rivet 28. Bridging the space between the plate 24 and the plate 27 is a bearing pin 29 upon which is j ournaled a grooved pulley 80, for a purpose to be presently described. On the opposite side of the carrier frame from the one supporting the pulley 30 is a vertical plate 31 connected at its upper end to said pin 25,

and at its lower end connected to the plates 23 and 24 by a cross-pin or bolt 32, upon which are mounted spacingsleeves 33 for maintaining the said plates23, 24, and 31 in proper spaced parallel relation. Located at the lower portion of the frame and bridging the spaces between the plates 23, 24, and

'31 is a bearing pin 34 upon which are mounted grooved pulleys'35, 36, there being a pulley in each of the spaces, as'clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. Mounted on the ends of the pin 29, heretofore described, are the arms 37 of a yoke 38, which serve a purpose to be presently described. As both of the fall-rope carriers are of the same construction, the description of one will su'fiice.

Connected to the yoke 38 of the fall-rope carrienlocated between the carriage and the tail tower, as at 39, is one end of a traversing rope 40, which maybe termed the outhaul rope, the latter passing from said fall-rope carrier under a pulley 41 and over a pulley 42 mounted on the tail tower, said rope 40 passing from the pulley 42 length wise of the cableway toward the head tower and over a pulley 43 mounted on the latter, whence it passes'down to, and is wound upon, the drum 44 of a winding engine. This rope is operable, by the drum 44, to pull or traverse the fall-rope carrier to which it is connected toward the tail tower. The yoke 38 of the fall-rope carrier located between the load carriage and the head tower is connected to a line 45, which may be termed the inhaul line, said line eX- tending over a pulley 46 on the head tower and down to said drum 44, upon which it is wound in a reverse direction to the line 40, so that, when said drum is operated to take up one of said lines, the other is paid out. It will be apparent that, when the line is wound on the drum 44, the fall-rope carrier to which said line is connected will be pulled toward the head tower, while the line 40 will be paid out to permit the other fall-rope carrier also to travel toward the head. tower by virtue of means to be presently described, and, when the reverse operation takes place, the line 40 will pull its fall-rope carrier toward the tail tower, while the line 45 will be paid out to permit its fall-rope carrier to move toward the tail tower by means which I will now describe.

hileans is provided whereby the operation of one ofthe traversing lines to traverse the fall-rope carrier to which it is connected will cause the load carriage to travel along the main cable with the fall-rope carrier and preferably at a speed greater than that at which the fall-rope carrier travels, which means will. now be described. Connected to the carriage, for instance at the point 47, is a line 48 which passes from the carriage lengthwise of the cable to and over the grooved pulley 30, heretofore described, mounted on the fall-rope carrier, said rope 48 being reversed upon itself and carried between. the grooved pulleys 21, 22, on one side of the load carriage, thence to and over one of-the pulleys 85 on the other carrier, and thence to the tail t0wer,-where it may be fixed or anchored, as at 49. By this arrangement, the operation of the fall-rope carrier by the line 45, to travel toward the head tower, will, by virtue of the line 48, cause the carriage to travel toward the head tower. simultaneously with the fall-rope carrier and at a definite speed relative thereto, the connection shown serving to cause the carriage to travel at twice the speed of the .fall-rope carrier, sothat the fall-rope carrier is always located at a point substantially midway between the head tower and the carriage. The fall-rope carrier on the opposite 7 side of the carriage-that is, the'one located between the carriage and the tail tower, may be connected to the carriage in a manner similar'to that just described; By a l ne 48 connected to the carriage, as at 48 and pass P ing therefrom over the sheave 30 on the fall-rope carrier between the carriage and the tail tower, thence reversed upon itself and carried lengthwise of the cableway and passed-between the pulleys 21, 22, on the opposite side of the. carriage from those engaged'by the rope 48. From the carriage the rope 48 passes over one of the pulleys 35. on the fall-rope carrier located between the carriage and the head tower, andis con nected to the head tower, a at 49 When said fall-rope carrier is moved toward the tail tower, the carriage will follow it at a definite speed and in a definite relationthat is in the embodiment shown at twice the speed of the fall-rope carrier, and the fall rope carrier will always be midway the tail tower and the carriage. It will also be seen, I

that the fall-rope carrier located between the carriage and the head tower will follow the carriage at one-half the speed of the latter, so that it too will always be definitely located one-half the distance between the carriage and the head tower.

It is believed the operation of the invention will be understood from the above description, but it may be stated as follows, it being premised that the parts are in the'position shown in Fig. 1, and that the load 17 is to be raised and traversed lengthwise of the cableway: The drum 14 is operated to wind the linellv thereon, which operation serves to take up or shorten the bight or loop 15 and thereby raise the load. When the load has reached the desired height, the drum 14 maybe held under brake and the carriage, with the load suspended therefrom, may then be traversed lengthwise of the cableway in either direction. If the carriage is to be hauled toward the head tower,

the operator causes the drum 44 to turn in the proper direction to take up the line 45 v and pay out the line 40, which will cause the line 45 to haul the fall-rope carrier to' which it is directly connected toward the head tower, which in turn will serve to pull the carriage toward the head tower simultaneously with said fall-rope carrier, and at twice thespeed due to the fact that the fallrope carrier and carriage are connected by the carrier engaging a bight of the rope 48,

which rope has one end fixed and the otherend attached to the carriage. During the movement described the fall-rope carrier will i always be located'at' a position substantially equidistant between the carriage and the head tower and thefall-rope will be properly supported at the most advantageous point; I While the operation just described is taking place, the carriage willtake up the line48, which will'cause" the fall-ropecar rier between the carriage and the tail tower to follow the carriage atone-half the speed at which the carriage travels, due to the fact that the line 48 is doubled upon itself, one

branch of which is a standing rope similar to the rope 48, such movement of thevcarrier beingpermitted, due to the fact that the line 40 isbeing'paid out; WVhen the load is to be traversed in the opposite direction from that described, the drum 44 is operated to take up the line 40 and payout the line 45 so that the fall-rope carrier connected directly to the rope 40 moves toward the tail tower and, by virtue of the connection 48*, causes the carriage to follow it at double its speed. During this operation, the line 45 being paid out, the carriage takes up the line 48 to cause the carrier connected to said line 45 to follow the carriage at a speed one-half the latter; c

It will be seen thatthe traversing movements of the carriage are effected by pulls of the traversing lines exerted on the fall rope carriers, and that the lines 48, 48*, con- I stitute differential speed connections between the fall-rope carriers and the, carriage whereby the carriage and the fall-' rope carriers are traversed at a definite relative speed and are" compelled to maintain the same relative. position throughout the traversing movement.

to travel at a greater or less speed than'twice the speed of the fall-rope carriers, without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. p V

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is In combination, a supporting cable, a carriage on said cable, a fall-rope passing over the carriage, a fall-rope carrier on each side ofsaid carriage and movable lengthwise of the supporting-cable, a sheave mounted in each of said fall-rope carriers,

two ropes each of Which is secured to a fixed support at one .end of the path of travel of the carriage, and extends to the opposite side of the carriage over the sheave of one fall-rope carrier and thence back to the carriage to which 1t 1s secured, and a drum and back past the fall-rope carriers and carriage and over a suitable sheave and Copies of this patent may he obtained for five cents eaclyb; addressin g the fcommissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

